1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to novel synthetic compounds of N-substituted norcantharimide derivatives, and their uses for manufacturing a medicament or a pharmaceutical composition for treating cancer.
2. Description of Related Art
Cantharidin, one of the active compounds isolated from Mylabris, is a potent serine/threonine protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and phosphatase 2A (PP2A) inhibitor, and has been shown to possess anti-cancer properties both in vitro and in vivo. However, it was also found to be poisonous to the kidney and liver. Research in the past has tried to identify analogues and/or derivatives of cantharidin that exhibit anti-cancer activity without significant cytotoxicity towards normal tissues, and norcantharidin and norcantharimide have thus been produced. Norcantharidin, which is the de-methylated form of cantharidin, is found to possess less nephrotoxicity, yet the demethylation also results in a lower bioactivity. As to norcantharimide, its analogues bearing long alkyl chain at N-position have been suggested to possess enhanced bioactivity due to the improved uptake conferred by the hydrophorbic nature of the alkyl chain.
Accordingly, there exists in the related art a need of an analogue and/or a derivative of cantharidin that exhibits excellent selective cytotoxicity toward cancerous cells but not the normal cells.